Reyes kin cries foul

The mother of slain University of the Philippines (UP) student and Alpha Phi Beta (APB) fraternity member Den Daniel Reyes took to task the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office yesterday for downgrading to homicide the murder charge against three suspects belonging to rival Sigma Rho fraternity.

"It pains us that after the Prosecutor’s Office delayed the resolution of the case," said Cecilia Reyes, "the charge was downgraded to homicide."

The charge is a bailable offense and carries a much lighter penalty than murder, which is generally non-bailable and is punishable by a 40-year jail term or the death penalty.

The prosecutors earlier elevated the homicide case to the Quezon City regional trial court against senior UP law student Fulgencio "Bibit" Factoran III, son of former natural resources secretary Fulgencio Factoran Jr., and his fraternity brothers, UP students Gil Taway IV and Marcelino Rongo.

Factoran, Taway and Rongo posted a bail of P40,000 each for their temporary liberty. But Reyes said that the long delay in the resolution of the case, a process that took nearly nine months, "practically acommodated the accused."

According to Reyes, she and her husband Daniel, earlier asked Justice Secretary Artemio Tuquero to speed up the investigation of the case. Her son, a third year engineering student, would have turned 21 last March 2.

The Reyes family’s lawyer, Arnold Guerrero, said he is conferring with fellow APB lawyers and might file a motion for reconsideration with the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office or bring an appeal for review to the Department of Justice.

Two APB men, Keven Camagay and Vincent Jimenez, have identified the three suspects as among the five men who attacked the victim at around 8 p.m. last Feb. 10 in front of the UP Law Center.– Romel Bagares